Connection point locating apparatus

ABSTRACT

A connection point locator for the panels of integrated circuits with their numerous connection sockets and/or terminal prongs, comprising a base for attachment of the panel, resilient strings moveably supported from said base in rectilinear condition and at right angles to each other to represent the ordinate and abscissa, respectively, of a Cartesian coordinate system, and means for moving each of said strings over the panel predetermined distances in a direction parallel to the other string while in rectilinear condition, to vary the location of their point of intersection which identifies a desired connection point on the panel. According to the invention, said strings are made of resiliently yieldable material, such as rubber, so that they may be moved out of the immediate environment of the discovered connection point, for the operator to establish the desired connection without hinderance and without impairment of the accuracy of the locator in subsequent connection-pointlocating operations.

United States Patent Primary Examiner Louis J. Capozi Attorney-Kurt A.Tauchen ABSTRACT: A connection point locator for the panels ofintegrated circuits with their numerous connection sockets and/orterminal prongs, comprising a base for attachment of the panel,resilient strings moveably supported from said base in rectilinearcondition and at right angles to each other to represent the ordinateand abscissa, respectively, of a Cartesian coordinate system, and meansfor moving each of said strings over the panel predetermined distancesin a direction parallel 'to the other string while in rectilinearcondition, to vary the location of their point of intersection whichidentifies a desired connection point on the panel. According to theinvention, said strings are made of resiliently yieldable material, suchas rubber, so that they may be moved out of the immediate environment ofthe discovered connection point, for the operator to establish thedesired connection without hinderance and without impairment of theaccuracy of the locator in subsequent connection-point locatingoperations.

TAPE READER U\TAPE LOGICW CONNECTION POINT LOCATING APPARATUS Thepresent invention relates to apparatus designed to find desiredterminals in the task of wiring high density circuit panels, i.e. panelshaving numerous sockets and/or connection prongs or terminals on theiropposite sides. An apparatus of this type performs automatically thetime-consuming search and decision phase in the work of operators whosetask it is to connect, on such panels, predetermined terminals accordingto a master chart. The present invention relates specifically toapparatus of this type wherein a desired connection terminal, be it asocket or prong, is found by moving over the panel, strings or wiresdisposed at right angles and representing the abscissa and ordinate ofthe Cartesian system, by means of motors operated under the control oflogic circuits until their point of intersection comes to a halt and islocated directly above the desired connection terminal. At present,these so called X-Y positioning mechanisms are usually constructed toplace a connection-establishing tool, such as a wire-wrap tool or asoldering instrument over the desired contact point leaving it to theoperator to service and triggerthe tool when the X-Y positioningmechanism comes to halt over the discovered connection point, withoutneed for the operator to search for the particular point and make thedecision whether the proper terminal has been found. Some types ofapparatus of this kind may even perform theconnection-establishing-operations automatically. However, apparatus ofthis kind are complex and costly.

The invention is based upon the realization that the difficulty inwiring high density circuit panels lies in finding the proper terminalsto be connected, but that once the proper terminals have been found, itis simpler, just as reliable and requires far less complex and costlyequipment, to allow the operator to connect the discovered terminalswith the help of tools that are independent of theconnection-point-locating mechanism.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide aconnection-point-locating mechanism that may be operated in theconventional manner under the control of logic circuitry to place theintersection point of a Cartesian coordinate system over a soughtterminal and which is of such construction that once the sought terminalhas been ascertained in this manner, the apparatus permits an operatorto establish the necessary connections manually without being obstructedby the identifying strings, and without danger of misaligning orotherwise endangering the proper function of theconnectionpoint-locating mechanism in subsequent operations.

In accordance with the invention I construct the strings which representthe abscissa and ordinate of the X-Y positioning mechanism, fromresiliently yieldable material, such as rubber having elastic memory. Onaccount of this feature, after the intersection point of the strings hascome to a halt over, and has thus identified, a sought terminal, theoperator merely pushes or pulls the strings aside and thus has access tothe discovered terminal to work thereon with his connection establishingtool, and after the desired connection has been made, the operatormerely allows the tensioned strings to bounce back into their normalrectilinear working positions at right angles to each other. Now theapparatus is again ready for renewed use without any danger that amisalignment was introduced into the apparatus, which might impair itsaccuracy in subsequent search operations.

The invention will best be understood by reference to the accompanyingdrawing which illustrates schematically a preferred embodiment thereofand wherein FIG. 1 is a schematic front elevation of aconnection-pointlocating apparatus embodying the invention, with itslogic circuitry shown in block form; and

FIG. 2 is an enlarged section through one of theconnectionpoint-identifying resilient strings of the apparatus shown inFIG. 1, taken along line 22 of said Figure and viewed in the directionof the arrows associated with said line.

In FIG. I of the drawing the reference numeral designates a mountingboard to which a contact panel 12 may be detachably secured in acentered position in any suitable manner, such as by means of clamps M.Panels of this type have a surface provided with numerous sockets, andinto predetermined ones of these sockets the contact prongs ofintegrated circuit modules are to be inserted; and numerous connectorprongs 16 project from the opposite surface of the panel, andpredetermined ones of these prongs may have to be connected by attachingthe ends of wires of varying lengths to the proper prongs thusestablishing the proper connections according to wiring charts of radio,television or computer devices. As previously point out, the properconnection points, i.e. the proper prongs where the connections are tobe made and/or the proper sockets into which the contact prongs ofintegrated circuit units are to be inserted, are found by strings orcords I8 and 20 one of which Le. 18 extends in the direction of andrepresents the ordinate of a Cartesian system, and the other one 20extends in the direction of and represents the abscissa of the Cartesiansystem. During the search operation the former one is moved in thedirection of the abscissa, and the latter one in the direction of theordinate by motors 22 and 24, respectively, under the control of logiccircuits represented by block 25 to which the required information isfed from punched tapes, magnetic tapes and the like symbolicallyindicated by the block 27. These motors come to a halt when theintersection point of the two strings I8 and 20 registers with thesought contact prong or socket.

In FIG. l the reference numerals 26 and 28 designate horizontallydisposed, vertically spaced, parallel guide rods that are suitablysupported from a frame 29 secured to the base board 10, and slidablymounted upon said rods in vertical alignment with each other arecarriages 30 and 32, respectively, between which is tensioned the stringl8 which is of resiliently yieldable material, such as rubber or plastic(FIG. 2), and whose opposite ends are suitably anchored in saidcarriages 30, 32. As pointed out hereinbefore, string 18 represents theordinate or Y-axis of a Cartesian system. To move these carriages inunison on guide rods 26 and 28, respectively, in the direction of theabscissa or X-axis, they are attached to corresponding runs ofhorizontally disposed endless belts or sprocket chains 34 and 36,respectively. Each of said belts or sprocket chains 34 and 36 is trainedover pulleys or sprockets 38, 40 and 42, 44, respectively, that arefirmly mounted upon vertically disposed, horizontally spaced driveshafts 46 and 48 which are rotatably supported in the frame 29 near theopposite side edges of base board 10. In the particular embodiment ofthe invention illustrated schematically in FIG. I the left-hand shaft 46is an idler shaft, but the right-hand shaft 48 is driven by motor 22through a gearbox 50.

Likewise supported in frame 29 in horizontally spaced relation are twovertically disposed guide rods 52 and 54 upon which are slidablysupported in horizontal alignment with each other two carriages 56 and58, respectively, and suitably anchored in, and tensioned between, saidcarriages is the string or cord 20 which is likewise of resilientlyyieldable material and represents the ordinate ofX-axis of the Cartesiansystem. Said carriages 56 and 58 are secured to corresponding runs oftwo endless belts or sprocket chains 60 and 62 trained about pulleys orsprockets 64, 66 and 68, 70, respectively, that are mounted uponvertically spaced, horizontally disposed drive shafts 72 and 74, whichare rotatably supported in the frame 29. The upper one 72 of said shaftsis an idler shaft, and the lower one 74 is driven by motor 24 through agearbox 75.

The operation of motors 22 and 24 is controlled in a conventional mannerfrom an electronic logic circuit unit represented by the block 25 inFIG. 1, which takes its direction from a punched or magnetic tapethrough a tape reader that is symbolically represented by the block 27in FIG. I as pointed out hereinbefore. The exact moment when theoperation of the motors 22, 24 is to come to a halt because the stringsl8 and 20 have reached their proper positions, is determined by encodersrepresented by blocks 78 and 80 which signal back to the logic circuitunit 25 that the operation is completed. Control arrangements for themotors which move components of a connection point locating mechanismthat represent the abscissa and ordinate of a Cartesian system, are wellknown in the art and as such do not represent the present invention.Control circuitry of this type is disclosed, for instance, in US. Pat.No. 3,392,256 issued to Bradham on July 9, 1968.

When the described apparatus has located a sought connection point, beit a prong or a socket on panel 10, it is now an easy matter for theoperator to make the necessary connections, be it insertion of the prongor prongs of an integrated circuit into specific sockets or solderingwire ends to, or wrapping them around specific contact prongs, with thetools designed for such operations. After identification of the soughtprong or socket in the panel, the operator merely pulls the strings l8and 20 apart from the discovered socket or prong and holds them apartand he is now free to manipulate his tool or the integrated circuitmodule to make the desired connections; and after he has completed thenecessary operations, he releases the strings l8 and 20 and due to theirelastic character, they return to their original positions, so theapparatus of the invention may now again be used to find anotherconnection point, without the danger that the displacement of thestrings from their contact-point-identifying position may havemisaligned, and thus impaired the accuracy of the contact-point-findingapparatus of the invention in subsequent operations.

lclaim:

l. A connection point locator for integrated circuit panels, comprisinga base for attachment of a panel, rectilinear strings moveably supportedfrom said base at right angles to each other and representing theordinate and abscissa, respectively, of a Cartesian coordinate system,and means for individually moving each of said strings in itsrectilinear condition in a direction parallel to the other string over apanel attached to said base, to vary the location of their point ofintersection with a view to identifying a desired connection point onthe panel, said strings being made of a resiliently yieldable material,so that they may be moved out of registry with the identified connectionpoint, without impairment of the accuracy in the operation of thelocator in subsequent connectionpoint-identifying operations.

1. A connection point locator for integrated circuit panels, comprisinga base for attachment of a panel, rectilinear strings moveably supportedfrom said base at right angles to each other and representing theordinate and abscissa, respectively, of a Cartesian coordinate system,and means for individually moving each of said strings in itsrectilinear condition in a direction parallel to the other string over apanel attached to said base, to vary the location of their point ofintersection with a view to identifying a desired connection point onthe panel, said strings being made of a resiliently yieldable material,so that they may be moved out of registry with the identified connectionpoint, without impairment of the accuracy in the operation of thelocator in subsequent connection-point-identifying operations.